Report From the Front

Over the past two semesters, I have been helping Georgia Tech undergraduate teams to contribute to transforming healthcare delivery. Their senior “capstone” projects have focused on patient in-flow (Emergency Department), in-patient operations (Operating Rooms) and patient out-flow (Discharge and Bed Turnover). Three eight-person teams addressed each of these areas of hospital operations.

The problems these students faced were excessive waiting time in the Emergency Department, low utilization of Operating Rooms, and delayed Discharge and Bed Turnover. All three of these problems resulted in inefficient use of capacities, decreased revenues, and excess staffing costs. The students’ solutions focused on improving use of capacities to increase revenues and decrease costs, resulting in net gains in the millions.

In all three instances, the hospitals had many ideas for how to improve operations. However, they did not understand the economic implications of the alternatives. The students used their engineering models; sleuthed down the data they needed; and projected the benefits and costs of alternative courses of action. They presented their results and implications in clearly actionable recommendations.

Perhaps not surprisingly, these projects depended on each other. Most significantly, increased use of the Operating Room capacity depends on improved Discharge and Bed Turnover. Otherwise, where do you put the increased number of patients emerging from surgery? In this way, inefficiencies in one functional area can impose inefficiencies in another area.

These three projects show how highly motivated, well-intended healthcare professionals can promote inefficient solutions due to having to operate within the significant constraints imposed by the rest of the organization. We have the methods and tools to overcome these limitations. We just need the courage to approach healthcare delivery problems systemically.

One Comment

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Stories of Change

My focus in this blog is fundamental change. In particular, I will write about fundamental change of complex organizational systems. The series of entries will report on a 20-year journey working globally with well over one hundred enterprises and several thousand executives and senior managers. I will also provide observations and comments on contemporary news and events.